Requesting ideas for book titles

Hi everyone,

Im designing a project for a class called Communication in a multicultural society.

The main ideas is basically as follows:

1.Students will choose among several novels and short stories and read one title.

2. Identify ideas that represent the culture of the writer and ideas or actions representing the cultural background of the most important characters of the story.

3. Justify why they believe the actions or ideas they chose are representative of the culture of the writer or the characters.

So... I am tyring to find interesting novels and short stories that will fit well with this exercise. My students are in 11th grade.

Please, it would be great to read your suggestions.

Thanks in advance,

Carlos.

Replies

Eric H. Roth July 13, 2011 at 1:01am

You might check out the outstanding collection: Short Short Stories edited by Irving Howe that includes many classic stories and writers. I used it in my classes in an innercity high school, adult education GED, and community college courses.

Of course, Jack London (A Piece of Steak, Martin Eden, The Sea Wolf, To Light a Fire) , Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart), Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Craddle), Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness, Nostromo), Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf), and O'Henry (pick almost any), and Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, Eyeless in Gaza) remain smart, if traditional choices. You might consider Primo Levi (The Periodic Table) and Yevgeny Zamyatin (We), but they may be too heavy, dark, and bleak.
- Carlos Recordon > Eric H. Roth August 13, 2011 at 5:02pm
  
  Thanks for your suggesetions Eric.
  
  I have used Aldoux Huxley before and the results were very good.
  
  Now the school provided us with a list of books and I chose from there. Studetns have to read two books from the same author and then write a comparative essay.
  
  I gave them two choices, Dostoievsky or Carlos Fuentes.
  
  By Dostoievsky; Crime and Punishment, and The Player.
  
  By Fuentes.: Aura and "Las Buenas conciencias" (I dont know how it was translated)
  
  Lots of cultural issues to analyze.
  
  Thanks again!
George Ramos June 29, 2011 at 9:42am

Hello Carlos,

Here are titles of anthologies I've pulled short stories from:

The Bedford Anthology of World Literature

Unwinding Threads: Writing by Women in Africa

The Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literatures

One World of Literature

Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction: An Anthology

World Literature: An Anthology of Great Short Stories, Drama, and Poetry

Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories

and here are novels and plays I've taught:

Houseboy

The River Between

Things Fall Apart

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (not fiction but an important read)

Othello

The Tempest

In the Time of the Butterflies

Golden Child

Monkey Bridge

Let me know what literature has made it onto your list! I'm always looking for new texts for me and my colleagues.

George
- Carlos Recordon > George Ramos August 13, 2011 at 4:58pm
  
  Hi George, thank you so much for the suggestions. The school finally provided us with a list of authorized books, and I choose "Crime and Punishment" and "The player" by Dostoievsky.
  
  And "Aura" and "Las buenas conciencias" by Carlos Fuentes.
  
  Each student has to choose two titles and write a comparative essay.
  
  Thanks again!
  
  Carlos.
Co-Chair

Lucy Gray June 12, 2011 at 10:23pm

Carlos,

Check out the resources offered by Primary Source:

http://www.primarysource.org/

Several of Primary Source's staffers belong to this community. If you do a search, you can find them and ask them directly for ideas.

Lucy
- Carlos Recordon > Lucy Gray June 14, 2011 at 12:02pm
  
  Lucy thank you so much for the link. What a wonderful site!
  
  Carlos.